John Keats: Ode On A Grecian Urn ODE ON A GRECIAN URN By John Keats Thou still unravished bride of quietness, Thou foster child of silence and slow time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? What maidens loath? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared, Pipe to the spirit dities of no tone. Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal---yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair! Ah, happy, happy boughs!

that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; And, happy melodist, unweari-ed, Forever piping songs forever new; More happy love! more happy, happy love! Forever warm and still to be enjoyed, Forever panting, and forever young; All breathing human passion far above, That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed, A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. Who are these coming to the sacrifice? To what green altar, O mysterious priest, Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, And all her silken flanks with garlands dressed? What little town by river or sea shore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? And, little town, thy streets for evermore Will silent be; and not a soul to tell Why thou art desolate, can e'er return. O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede Of marble men and maidens overwrought, With forest branches and the trodden weed; Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity. Cold Pastoral!

When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty"---that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. 1820 "Ode on a Grecian Urn." "Ode on a Grecian Urn." AUTHOR(S) Ode on a Grecian Urn;2011, p1 SOURCE TYPE Essay ABSTRACT "Ode on a Grecian Urn" addresses many of the same concerns that occupied Keats in "Ode to a Nightingale," except that in this poem he turns his attention from the natural poetry of the bird to the human artistry of the urn. Unable to escape his sense of life's transience through the immortal song of the bird, Keats looks to the timeless truth embodied in the urn. Keats once again encounters the paradox that is central to all of his art: To achieve immortality is to rid oneself of change, but it is change, not stasis, that produces the contrasts necessary for all that is good.

ACCESSION # Related Articles "Give me that voice again … Those looks immortal": Gaze and Voice in Keats's The Eve of St. Agnes. GAROFALO, DANIELA // Studies in Romanticism;Fall2010, Vol. 49 Issue 3, p353 The article offers poetry criticism of the poem "The Eve of St. Agnes" by John Keats. It explores the poem's critique of the power of luxury objects and commercial culture. The author suggests that, despite literary critiques that hold otherwise, Keats was critical of commodity culture and... ODE ON A GRECIAN URN. Keats, John; Arnold, William T. // Poetical Works of John Keats;1908, p235 The poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn," by John Keats is presented. First Line: Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, Last Line: Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. ODE ON A GRECIAN URN. Keats, J.

// Golden Treasury;1/1/1904, p333 The poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats is presented. First Line: Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, Last Line: Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Ode on a Grecian Urn. Keats, J. // Book of Georgian Verse;1909, p834 The poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn," by J. Keats is presented. First Line: THOU still unravish'd bride of quietness, Last Line: Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.' 'Ode on a Grecian Urn.'. Keats, John // Hutchinson Literary Extracts;2007, p1 The article presents the poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn," by John Keats. First Line: Thou still unravished bride of quietness, Last Line: Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Ode on a Grecian Urn.

KEATS, JOHN // Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250-1900;1922, p729 The poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats is presented. First Line: Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, Last Line: Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.' 41. Ode on a Grecian Urn. KEATS, JOHN // Hundred Best English Poems;1/1/1904, p44 The poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn," by John Keats is presented. First Line: Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, Last Line: Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. KEATS AND SHAKESPEARE: TWO NEW SOURCES. Felperin, Howard // English Language Notes;Dec64, Vol. 2 Issue 2, p105 The article critiques the poems "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and "Ode to a Nightingale," by John Keats.

It examines the influence of two works by English poet and playwright William Shakespeare on the poems, including "The Phoenix and the Turtle" and "The Passionate Pilgrim." It examines the... Ode On A Grecian Urn by John Keats - Famous poems, famous poets. - All Poetry Madison Humada : It sounds like a love poem, very sweet and gentle. Insha Muzafar : Heard melodies are sweet,those unheard are sweeter...keats is beyond words. myrataal : I shall forever be in love with Keats ... Granted: his shadow. Tahir Ghani : Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: poetry gives things new shape,, it creats and recreats life( my poems TO GOD/POEM IS NEVER FOR POET) Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard poem is never finished a great poem/poetry/art has 4 things 1. beauty of word 2. beauty of meaning 3. beauty of truth.

4 beauty of Philosophy ( Tahir Ghani) Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know and this piece by Keats , has above mentioned stages,, mand : A masterpiece - 10 syllables in almost every line. Astoundingly beautiful and descriptive! : From guest Titilayo Odole ( contact ) te,indeed,"heard melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter". : From guest Daisy Tan ( contact ) I wonder whether it is the urn which tries to tell the mankind that real life is a beauty as it is a truth. What is carved into the side of urn although is pretty, it is not a true beauty and the images are fictional. Purrsanthema : I've loved Keats for many years now and his magnificent poetry has given me many hours of calm amid whatever turbulence my life has encountered. I love Wedgewood because of this poem. Clovis...Curious : One of the most elegant, and sublime poems in the English language. : From guest Fred Edem ( contact ) Ineed acommentory of the poem. : From guest Ajay ( contact ) A sensual poet of his calibre should rellay be respected.

: From guest ADNAN SARDAR FROM PAKISTAN ( contact ) I NEVER STUSY KEATS BEFORE BUT after reading him i am so conviced and ispired by him that he become the ideal of my life he is a termandous writer to whomi ever meet i read MILTON , SHAKESPEAR ,POPE AND MANY OTHER BUT THE TRUE SPIRIT OF POETRY , CLASSICAL AS WELL AS ROMANTIC AND ABOVE ALL MODERN TOUCH I SEE IN HIS POETRY. AS HE CLAIM EVERY THING WHICH HE EXPERIENCE IN HIS TROUBLSOME LIFE HE SHARE IT WITH US.I WANT TO SAY ABOUT HIM ONLY HIS OWN VERSES ' THOU STILL UNRAVISHED BRIDE OF QUITENESS... THOU FOSTER-CHILD OF SILENCE AND SLOW-TIME ..... karaharapriya : Look at the way the ending lines " Beauty is truth, truth beauty " is a metaphor for the urn and life itself. As we examine the urn with Keats and he gently turns it around to catch the scenes and leads us to the themes of transient life and immortality of art.

This is a poem I love to come back again and again and again : From guest mohammed talaat 4th year alexandria univrsity ( contact ) iam an egyption foriegn student but i love it i saw the urn many times but its my first time to see all this images and voyages on it i swear keats was from a to z romantic : I will never forget how this poem popped into my mind when in the Boston Museum of Art a few years back. There I was perusing the Grecian Urns, and Kests' words were as timeless as the Urn in the case before me. It's amazing how some things just never get old. : One of the most well known and well written poems anywhere. Ode on a Grecian Urn - Poems | Academy of American Poets Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets.

For over three generations, the Academy has connected millions of people to great poetry through programs such as National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world; Poets.org, the Academy’s popular website; American Poets, a biannual literary journal; and an annual series of poetry readings and special events. Since its founding, the Academy has awarded more money to poets than any other organization.

browse poems & poets sign up to receive a new poem-a-day in your inbox sign up poem About this Poem Though Charles Swinburne called Keats's early work "some of the most vulgar and fulsome doggrel ever whimpered by a vapid and effeminate rhymester in the sickly stage of whelphood," he later wrote that "Ode on a Grecian Urn" was one of the poems "nearest to absolute perfection, to the triumphant achievement and accomplishment of the very utmost beauty possible to human words." John Keats , 1795 - 1821 Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? what maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal—yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; And, happy melodist, unwearied, For ever piping songs for ever new; More happy love! more happy, happy love! For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd, For ever panting, and for ever young; All breathing human passion far above, That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd, A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. Who are these coming to the sacrifice?

To what green altar, O mysterious priest, Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, And all her silken flanks with garlands drest? What little town by river or sea shore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? And, little town, thy streets for evermore Will silent be; and not a soul to tell Why thou art desolate, can e'er return. O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede Of marble men and maidens overwrought, With forest branches and the trodden weed; Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity: Cold pastoral! When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty'—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. This poem is in the public domain. This poem is in the public domain. John Keats Born in 1795, John Keats was an English Romantic poet and author of three poems considered to be among the finest in the English language.

Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn Thou still unravished bride of quietness! Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flow'ry tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal -yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! Ah, happy, happy boughs!

that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; And, happy melodist, unwearied, For ever piping songs for ever new; More happy love! more happy, happy love! For ever warm and still to be enjoyed, For ever panting and for ever young; All breathing human passion far above, That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed, A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. Who are these coming to the sacrifice? To what green altar, O mysterious priest, Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, And all her silken flanks with garlands drest? What little town by river or sea-shore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Is emptied of its folk, this pious morn? And, little town, thy streets for evermore Will silent be; and not a soul to tell Why thou art desolate, can e'er return. O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede Of marble men and maidens overwrought, With forest branches and the trodden weed; Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity: Cold pastoral!

When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou sayst, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty, -that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." Ode on a Grecian Urn - John Keats Poetry - Keats' Kingdom Ode on a Grecian Urn Ode on a Grecian Urn Notes on Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats In this ode, Keats studies a marble Greek urn and contemplates the story, history and secrets that lie behind its carved pictures. Throughout the poem, he constantly juxtaposes the immortality of art with the mortality of man. His feelings seem confused, as he is torn between jealousy and bitterness that the urn will live forever and be remembered when he is long dead and forgotten, and pity for this inanimate object that has no experience of life, despite its endurance through the ages. “Thou still unravished bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of silence and slow time” From the start, Keats addresses the urn directly, using the pronoun 'thou', and continues throughout to personify it.

The word 'still' in the first line is key to the poem, as it is polysemic: it could mean 'yet', reflecting the sense of anticipation present in the poem, or 'motionless', because the urn does not move. Keats contrasts the urn's peaceful quality, ('quietness' and 'silence and slow time'), with undertones of violence, suggested with 'unravished bride' and 'foster-child'. He uses words with long vowel sounds, such as 'silence' and 'slow' to keep the pace slow. “A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both?” With 'flowery tale' and 'leaf-fringed legend', Keats uses natural imagery, a central feature of Romantic poetry. It links the urn to nature's transcendence. He contrasts 'sweetly' with 'haunts', which highlights the two juxtaposing sides of the urn. On line 7, he introduces the contrast of mortality and immortality, with 'deities or mortals'. “What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?” With the last three lines, Keats increases the pace with quick-fire questions, which reveal his longing to know the urn's secrets. Do the questions need to be answered? 'Men or gods' continues the juxtaposition of the mortality with the immortal. “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone” Keats uses describes the scene on the urn, in which musicians are pictured, yet their music is unheard. Because he cannot hear the music, in his imagination it is perfect. He again addresses the inhumanness of the urn – it has no senses, so the pipes cannot play to 'the sensual ear'. He employs very deliberate assonance with 'ear'/'endeared', 'spirit'/'ditties' and 'no'/'tone', which makes the language very obviously poetic and lyrical – perhaps to show that the poem is art, like the urn.

“Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal – yet, do not grieve: She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!” There seems to be a sense of wasted or unfulfilled life, as the 'bold lover' will never reach his goal, though he is so near to it, because he remains in the same moment in time forever. The repetition of 'never' aids this thought. Keats presents the idea that the urn is caught in an eternity of bliss and love. “For ever piping songs for ever new; More happy love! more happy, happy love! For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd, For ever panting and for ever young; All breathing human passion far above, That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd, A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.” The repetition of 'for ever' shows the urn's immortality, whilst the duplication of 'happy' suggests that all is not happy. Like in the first stanza, the word 'still' is key, acting again polysemically.

'Panting' and 'breathing' represent life's breath, and reminds the reader that the urn is not alive. Keats again contrasts human mortality with 'for ever young' immortality. 'Far above' is linked with the gods. He ends the stanza with the idea that love causes illness: 'a burning forehead, and a parching tongue'. The last two lines are a further reminder of man's mortality and inevitable death. “Who are these coming to the sacrifice? To what green alter, O mysterious priest, Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies?” Keats describes the next picture on the urn, and introduces a new enigma, which will never be answered, as expressed by the adjective 'mysterious'. There is a semantic field of religious language and imagery throughout the fourth stanza, starting with 'sacrifice' and 'priest'. Like in the first stanza, the unpleasant image of the 'heifer lowing at the skies' reveals an undertone of violence. “…Emptied of this folk, this pious morn?

And, little town, thy streets for evermore Will silent be; and not a soul to tell Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.” The word 'empty' could also be seen as key to the poem, as it seems to describe Keats' feelings about the urn; despite its beauty, mystery and many stories, it is without life and therefore empty, and therefoe “for evermore will silent be”. Where in Stanza 2, the urn was presented as being in an eternity of love and bliss, here it has changed to being eternally 'desolate'. This shows Keats' shifting feelings about the urn. It also represents the two paradoxical sides of the urn: in one way its immortality is a positive and joyful thing, but on the other, it is full of desolation, isolation and emptiness. This also has a more literal meaning, as the urn can be physically turned round by the observer, to see the various scenes. “Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!

When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know'.” In the final stanza, Keats seems to be pointing an accusing finger at the urn, labelling it a 'silent form', which teases the reader/observer. 'Eternity' could be a link to death. His exclamation 'Cold Pastoral!' could be seen as one of anger or frustration, and ultimately a rejection of the urn and its lifeless immortality. 'A friend to man' links with the earlier poem Sleep and Poetry, in which Keats writes that poetry should be “a friend, to soothe the cares and lift the thoughts of man”. He continues his juxtaposition of the mortality of man, demonstrated by 'old age', 'waste' and 'woe', with art's immortality: 'thou shalt remain'. Keats offers an ambiguous conclusion with the final two lines.

Depending on where the quotation marks are placed, it could all be the urn's message, with Keats taking a step back, or it could be his own thoughts. Is he being ironic, as he has learnt, and become less naïve, since he wrote Endymion (“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever”)? Ode on a Grecian Urn - Further Notes Summary In the first stanza, the speaker stands before an ancient Grecian urn and addresses it. He is preoccupied with its depiction of pictures frozen in time. It is the "still unravish'd bride of quietness," the "foster-child of silence and slow time." He also describes the urn as a "historian" that can tell a story. He wonders about the figures on the side of the urn and asks what legend they depict and from where they come. He looks at a picture that seems to depict a group of men pursuing a group of women and wonders what their story could be: "What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? / What pipes and timbrels?

What wild ecstasy?" In the second stanza, the speaker looks at another picture on the urn, this time of a young man playing a pipe, lying with his lover beneath a glade of trees. The speaker says that the piper's "unheard" melodies are sweeter than mortal melodies because they are unaffected by time. He tells the youth that, though he can never kiss his lover because he is frozen in time, he should not grieve, because her beauty will never fade. In the third stanza, he looks at the trees surrounding the lovers and feels happy that they will never shed their leaves. He is happy for the piper because his songs will be "for ever new," and happy that the love of the boy and the girl will last forever, unlike mortal love, which lapses into "breathing human passion" and eventually vanishes, leaving behind only a "burning forehead, and a parching tongue." In the fourth stanza, the speaker examines another picture on the urn, this one of a group of villagers leading a heifer to be sacrificed. He wonders where they are going ("To what green altar, O mysterious priest...") and from where they have come.

He imagines their little town, empty of all its citizens, and tells it that its streets will "for evermore" be silent, for those who have left it, frozen on the urn, will never return. In the final stanza, the speaker again addresses the urn itself, saying that it, like Eternity, "doth tease us out of thought." He thinks that when his generation is long dead, the urn will remain, telling future generations its enigmatic lesson: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty." The speaker says that that is the only thing the urn knows and the only thing it needs to know. Form "Ode on a Grecian Urn" follows the same ode-stanza structure as the "Ode on Melancholy," though it varies more the rhyme scheme of the last three lines of each stanza. Each of the five stanzas in "Grecian Urn" is ten lines long, metered in a relatively precise iambic pentameter, and divided into a two part rhyme scheme, the last three lines of which are variable. The first seven lines of each stanza follow an ABABCDE rhyme scheme, but the second occurrences of the CDE sounds do not follow the same order.

In stanza one, lines seven through ten are rhymed DCE; in stanza two, CED; in stanzas three and four, CDE; and in stanza five, DCE, just as in stanza one. As in other odes (especially "Autumn" and "Melancholy"), the two-part rhyme scheme (the first part made of AB rhymes, the second of CDE rhymes) creates the sense of a two-part thematic structure as well. The first four lines of each stanza roughly define the subject of the stanza, and the last six roughly explicate or develop it. (As in other odes, this is only a general rule, true of some stanzas more than others; stanzas such as the fifth do not connect rhyme scheme and thematic structure closely at all.) Themes If the "Ode to a Nightingale" portrays Keats's speaker's engagement with the fluid expressiveness of music, the "Ode on a Grecian Urn" portrays his attempt to engage with the static immobility of sculpture.

The Grecian urn, passed down through countless centuries to the time of the speaker's viewing, exists outside of time in the human sense--it does not age, it does not die, and indeed it is alien to all such concepts. In the speaker's meditation, this creates an intriguing paradox for the human figures carved into the side of the urn: They are free from time, but they are simultaneously frozen in time. They do not have to confront aging and death (their love is "for ever young"), but neither can they have experience (the youth can never kiss the maiden; the figures in the procession can never return to their homes). The speaker attempts three times to engage with scenes carved into the urn; each time he asks different questions of it. In the first stanza, he examines the picture of the "mad pursuit" and wonders what actual story lies behind the picture: "What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?" Of course, the urn can never tell him the whos, whats, whens, and wheres of the stories it depicts, and the speaker is forced to abandon this line of questioning.

In the second and third stanzas, he examines the picture of the piper playing to his lover beneath the trees. Here, the speaker tries to imagine what the experience of the figures on the urn must be like; he tries to identify with them. He is tempted by their escape from temporality and attracted to the eternal newness of the piper's unheard song and the eternally unchanging beauty of his lover. He thinks that their love is "far above" all transient human passion, which, in its sexual expression, inevitably leads to an abatement of intensity--when passion is satisfied, all that remains is a wearied physicality: a sorrowful heart, a "burning forehead," and a "parching tongue." His recollection of these conditions seems to remind the speaker that he is inescapably subject to them, and he abandons his attempt to identify with the figures on the urn. In the fourth stanza, the speaker attempts to think about the figures on the urn as though they were experiencing human time, imagining that their procession has an origin (the "little town") and a destination (the "green altar").

But all he can think is that the town will forever be deserted: If these people have left their origin, they will never return to it. In this sense he confronts head-on the limits of static art; if it is impossible to learn from the urn the whos and wheres of the "real story" in the first stanza, it is impossible ever to know the origin and the destination of the figures on the urn in the fourth. It is true that the speaker shows a certain kind of progress in his successive attempts to engage with the urn. His idle curiosity in the first attempt gives way to a more deeply felt identification in the second, and in the third, the speaker leaves his own concerns behind and thinks of the processional purely on its own terms, thinking of the "little town" with a real and generous feeling. But each attempt ultimately ends in failure. The third attempt fails simply because there is nothing more to say--once the speaker confronts the silence and eternal emptiness of the little town, he has reached the limit of static art; on this subject, at least, there is nothing more the urn can tell him. In the final stanza, the speaker presents the conclusions drawn from his three attempts to engage with the urn.

He is overwhelmed by its existence outside of temporal change, with its ability to "tease" him "out of thought / As doth eternity." If human life is a succession of "hungry generations," as the speaker suggests in "Nightingale," the urn is a separate and self-contained world. It can be a "friend to man," as the speaker says, but it cannot be mortal; the kind of aesthetic connection the speaker experiences with the urn is ultimately insufficient to human life. The final two lines, in which the speaker imagines the urn speaking its message to mankind--"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," have proved among the most difficult to interpret in the Keats canon. After the urn utters the enigmatic phrase "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," no one can say for sure who "speaks" the conclusion, "that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." It could be the speaker addressing the urn, and it could be the urn addressing mankind.

If it is the speaker addressing the urn, then it would seem to indicate his awareness of its limitations: The urn may not need to know anything beyond the equation of beauty and truth, but the complications of human life make it impossible for such a simple and self-contained phrase to express sufficiently anything about necessary human knowledge. If it is the urn addressing mankind, then the phrase has rather the weight of an important lesson, as though beyond all the complications of human life, all human beings need to know on earth is that beauty and truth are one and the same. It is largely a matter of personal interpretation which reading to accept. Ode on a Grecian Urn activity sheet In the final couplet, is Keats saying that pain is beautiful? You must decide whether it is the poet (a persona), Keats (the actual poet), or the urn speaking. Are both lines spoken by the same person, or does some of the quotation express the view of one speaker and the rest of the couplet express the comment upon that view by another speaker? Who is being addressed--the poet, the urn, or the reader? Are the concluding lines a philosphical statement about life or do they make sense only in the context of the poem?

Some critics feel that Keats is saying that Art is superior to Nature. Is Keats thinking or feeling or talking about the urn only as a work of art? No matter how you read the last two lines, do they really mean anything? do they merely sound as if they mean something? or do they speak to some deep part of us that apprehends or feels the meaning but it is an experience/meaning that can't be put into words? Do they make a final statement on the relation of the ideal to the actual? Is the urn rejected at the end? Is art - can art ever be - a substitute for real life? Add your own readings to these ideas; what does the paradox mean to you? Ode on a Grecian Urn THOU still unravish'd bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal - yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! Ah, happy, happy boughs!

that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; And, happy melodist, unwearied, Ode on a Grecian Urn Poem by John Keats - Analysis Contact Ode on a Grecian Urn Poem by John Keats Written in 1819, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ was the third of the five ‘great odes’ of 1819, which are generally believed to have been written in the following order – Psyche, Nightingale, Grecian Urn, Melancholy, and Autumn. Of the five, Grecian Urn and Melancholy are merely dated ‘1819’. Critics have used vague references in Keats’s letters as well as thematic progression to assign order.

(‘Ode on Indolence’, though written in March 1819, perhaps before Grecian Urn, is not considered one of the ‘great odes’.) This ode contains the most discussed two lines in all of Keats’s poetry – ‘”Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” – that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.’ The exact meaning of those lines is disputed by everyone; no less a critic than TS Eliot considered them a blight upon an otherwise beautiful poem. Scholars have been unable to agree to whom the last thirteen lines of the poem are addressed. Arguments can be made for any of the four most obvious possibilities, -poet to reader, urn to reader, poet to urn, poet to figures on the urn. The issue is further confused by the change in quotation marks between the original manuscript copy of the ode and the 1820 published edition. (This issue is further discussed at the bottom of this page.) Crop from George Keats’s manuscript copy of ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ You can view part of the earliest known manuscript below.

Please note that it is a transcription in George Keats’s handwriting; Keats’s original manuscript / first draft is lost. Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fring’d legend haunt about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal – yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! Ah, happy, happy boughs!

that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu; And, happy melodist, unwearied, For ever piping songs for ever new; More happy love! more happy, happy love! For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d, For ever panting, and for ever young; All breathing human passion far above, That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d, A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. Who are these coming to the sacrifice? To what green altar, O mysterious priest, Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, And all her silken flanks with garlands drest? What little town by river or sea shore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? And, little town, thy streets for evermore Will silent be; and not a soul to tell Why thou art desolate, can e’er return. O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede Of marble men and maidens overwrought, With forest branches and the trodden weed; Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!

When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” – that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Note: In 1997, Dennis Dean published an article in the Philological Quarterly titled ‘Some Quotations in Keats’s Poetry’. In it, he discussed the problem of the final quotation, linking it with the work of Sir Joshua Reynolds. I think it reasonably settles the ‘quotation issue’: “In his “Ode on a Grecian Urn” Keats will say exactly the same thing, more elegantly but more cryptically also: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”–surely the most famous equation in English literature and precisely correct in suggesting the Newtonian origin of the unstated “proof.” Many readers of Annals of the Fine Arts would probably have recognized the source of Keats’s equation in the writings of Sir Joshua Reynolds because of their familiarity with Reynolds and because the whole technique of allusion (or even short quotation) was fundamental to the neoclassicism in which both Reynolds and his readers had been educated.

In the second published version of 1820, moreover, Keats represents this portion, and this portion only, of the urn’s utterance as a quotation–but as a quotation within a quotation. If one were free to punctuate the final pair of lines in the “Ode” according to present-day editorial practice, they would (in my view) look like this: “‘Beauty is truth; truth, beauty’–that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” The urn, in other words, begins by quoting Sir Joshua (for Keats and his readers, the world’s greatest authority on art of all kinds), implicitly affirms the sufficiency of human intellect, explicitly affirms the equation of beauty and truth, and pronounces this knowledge entirely sufficient to create the elegant geometry of such superb art as the urn. Because of the uniformity of human minds and passions, moreover, the figures inscribed on the urn (which puzzle the observer at first glance) become intelligible as we relate them to our own experience. The first stanza of the poem is filled with questions; the last, with none.

Being art, the urn retains its ability to “speak” to all who observe it, reminding us of our paradoxical dilemma as mortals who exist in finite time.” Source: ‘Some Quotations in Keats’s Poetry’ by Dennis R. Dean. From the Philological Quarterly. Volume: 76. Issue: 1, 1997. Read More English History Topics Link/cite this page If you use any of the content on this page in your own work, please use the code below to cite this page as the source of the content. Hanson, Marilee. "Ode on a Grecian Urn Poem by John Keats" <a href=""> February 1, 2015 Link will appear as Hanson, Marilee. "Ode on a Grecian Urn Poem by John Keats" , February 1, 2015 More from Keats A Literary Analysis of an Ode to a Grecian Urn by John Keats | Kibin A Literary Analysis of an Ode to a Grecian Urn by John Keats Sign Up & Access Essays Already a member? Login here Pages: 2 This preview is partially blurred.

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Sign up to view the full document End of preview Upgrade to view the full document The Extended Ages of an UrnJohn Keatss poem An Ode to a Grecian Urn is written encompassing both life and art Keats uses a Grecian urn as a symbol of life He refers to the Greek piece of art as being immortal with its messages told in endless time Walter J Bate explains that the Sisobas Vase that Keats traced at the home of his artist friend Haydon the Townly Vase at the British Museum or the Borghese Vase in the Louvre are suggested by scholars to possibly be the ones that Keats had in mind while writing his poem 510-511 Being that Keats had quite a respectable knowledge of Greek art it is also quite possible that he had no particular vase in mind at all Outside of that our chief concern is the meaning of the poem itself As author Jack Stillinger proposes the speaker in a romantic period begins in the real world takes off in mental flight to visit the ideal then returns home to the real However because of his experiences during flight he never returns to where he began and will be however slight forever changed 3 The purpose of this paper is to primarily focus on the

 first stanza In the first line of the poem Thou still unravished bride of quietness 1 Keats refers to the urn as the unravished bride or a thing of beauty but not just simply pleasing to the eye It is a bride of silence or so it may seem Later we read that the silent bride had recorded annals to deliver As Patterson explains he suggests its changeless ungenerative descent through the ages it does not reproduce itself and transmits itself and its meaning directly 49As Douglas Bush points out Keats begins with an inanimate anonymous artifact which in itself can be called immortal 138Thou foster-child of silence and slow time 2 Keats now refers to the urn as a foster-child @Kibin is a lifesaver for my essay right now!!

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Question: To what was John Keats referring in his line "Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness"?
Answer: A Grecian Urn